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Lenny Cooper and Charley Farley rap together for a music video for Cooper's song “Country Folks Anthem” on location at Wooley's in Mooreville, Tenn. (photo: Shelley Mays/The Tennessean)

It’s a little bit backwoods and a little bit street.

Southern sound with an urban beat.

It’s known as hick-hop — country narratives that add rap’s heavy bass and aggression to storylines about pickup-driving, beer-swillin’, chicken-and-biscuit-eating good ole boys.

“Just when you think everything’s been done in music, you look up and here’s a new amalgam,” country music singer-songwriter John Rich said.

The genre is getting attention as a grass-roots gig moving toward mainstream recognition — albeit with an unconventional approach.

A genre that doesn’t get much recognition in the radio world has had to market itself via YouTube, social media and targeted marketing with concerts in middle-of-nowhere, mud-boggin’ motorsport parks — where massive tires and trackside beverages accompany dirty, single-track race competitions.

The bulk of the fan base is “the countriest of the country people,” said Colt Ford, one of the genre’s most popular artists.

Big & Rich and Gretchen Wilson perform at the CMT Music Awards in June 2011 in Nashville. (photo: Larry McCormack/File/The Tennessean)

Gretchen Wilson walks to the stage every night. John Rich rides his golf cart, even if he’s just 20 feet away. Big Kenny Alphin pulls on his top hat, climbs on his Segway and takes off as his feathers flap in the breeze.

Wilson laughs that the way each of them gets to the stage is representative of their vastly different personalities. And while there’s been much gossip about friction between Big Kenny and John Rich of country duo Big & Rich, Wilson says there’s been nothing but big smiles and even bigger audiences since the trio kicked off their co-headlining Xtreme Muzik Tour earlier this year.

“It’s been even more fun than we thought it would be,” she says. “But if I were an outsider looking in, I would think, ‘What a weird, motley bunch right there.’ ”

But it’s also a successful one: The leading forces of country music’s MuzikMafia movement a decade ago, Wilson has sold 9 million albums and Big & Rich has sold more than 5 million. And the Redneck Woman is taking credit for reconnecting Big Kenny and John Rich and getting the tour, which will be at the Woods Amphitheater at Fontanel on Friday, on the road.

The country stars are set to donate 100 percent of the proceeds from the Fontanel show to Operation Finally Home, a non-profit that donates new homes to wounded and disabled veterans and the widows of fallen soldiers.

“This is a wonderful organization I've worked with for years,” said Big Kenny, who first approached his touring partners about the idea, in a statement. “Building a home is noble, but constructing a home tailored to the needs of a specific injury or disability is one of the things Operation Finally Home really understands and has done well time and again.”

Operation Finally Home is based in Texas, but this home is going to a local veteran. We’d tell you who the serviceman is, but since the person doesn’t know yet, we don’t want to ruin the surprise.

The Xtreme Muzik tour featuring Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson and Cowboy Troy with opening act Bradley Gaskin is Sept. 2 at Fontanel, located about 10 minutes from downtown Nashville at 4225 Whites Creek. Doors open at 6 p.m. and music starts at 7 p.m. Admission is $21.50-$56 through Ticketmaster, 1-800-745-3000.

Saturday’s riverfront scene at the CMA Fest concluded with a late afternoon set from Billy Ray Cyrus, whose first Fan Fair came 19 years ago and who has remained a Festival staple. Cyrus’ appeal at the fest stems not from his television appearances or from his famous daughter, Miley, but from fans’ memories of his every last achy breaky festival appearance. Years past his country radio dominance, Cyrus still attracts the screaming and, on this day, sweating masses.

While the temperatures and the outdoor setting would normally make for a languid crowd reaction, Cyrus’ stage turn offered energy from the performer and attention from fans that was more in line with a packed auditorium. Even the people who watched from backstage boats (“backstage” in this case being the Cumberland River) cheered at each song’s end. The heat, substantial enough to cause Country Music Hall of Famer Bill Anderson to pause during his Saturday set when guitarist Les Singer was overcome by the temperatures (Singer was taken backstage to cool down and is fine), wasn’t daunting enough to drive fans away.Continue reading →

The Rich Rocks "SIX PAK" release will include single "Country Done Come To Town" along with five other tracks, four of which feature guest slots from other recording artists. Kid Rock, Lil Jon, Cowboy Troy and Hank Williams Jr. each contribute to that one.

The second six-song mini-album is titled For the Kids, and it is designed as a tribute to friends and families of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Rich is competing to raise money for St. Jude on Celebrity Apprentice, and a portion of the proceeds from For The Kids will go to support the hospital.

Ahead of the mini-albums' release, fans can tune in to check on Rich's Apprentice progress as the show airs Sundays at 8 p.m. Central on NBC.

The 30+ date jaunt kicks off in Springfield, Missouri on June 18, and hits Nashville's Woods at Fontanel on September 2.

The tour sounds like a traveling, super-sized version of the MuzikMafia gatherings the group regularly held in Nashville back in the early aughts. Big & Rich and Wilson share an eight-piece band and remain on stage together for most of the show (helping keep them there - a fully functioning on-stage bar.)

"This crew started out with a bunch of us hanging out in little clubs playing all kinds of music," Rich says in a release. "We want to give our fans not just a great night of music but an experience they’ll talk about for a long time."

Tickets for the September 2 concert in Nashville are $36-$56 and on sale now at Ticketmaster.

Although the men’s team was defeated, Rich celebrated his achievement on the first episode with a premiere watching party at his “Mt. Richmore” abode atop Love Circle in Nashville where he welcomed a notable group of revelers including artists Dierks Bentley, Bo Bice, Cowboy Troy, Larry Gatlin, T.G. Sheppard, Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider, Anthrax’s Scott Ian and Two Foot Fred, radio host Dave Ramsey, firearms manufacturer Ronnie Barrett and Apprentice castmates Mark McGrath and Meat Loaf.

But don’t assume Rich’s celebration suggests that he doesn’t mean business when it comes to the competition.

“I did not come on Celebrity Apprentice to get famous. I came here to raise money for St. Jude’s, period,” said Rich during the premiere. “Don’t underestimate the country boys.”

Catch the next episode of Celebrity Apprentice at 8 p.m. Sunday, March 13 on NBC.

Click to see a gallery of photos from Fontanel Mansion (photo: John Partipilo/The Tennessean).

Fontanel, the log mansion and property just outside Nashville that was once owned by country star Barbara Mandrell, has always been many things: comfortable home, expansive farm and tranquil woods.

Now, after years of steady development, you can add another label: rising entertainment complex.

In April, Fontanel Mansion and Farm’s 4,500-seat, state-of-the-art outdoor amphitheater constructed last year in Whites Creek will begin hosting its inaugural concert schedule with acts including Stone Temple Pilots, Gretchen Wilson and Willie Nelson’s Country Throwdown tour. Those prominent bookings, with more major names promised, at the Nashville area’s only midsize outdoor venue geared specifically for concerts, mark the arrival of what could be a significant player on the local music scene.

But concerts are only part of the attractions at this sprawling multi-use facility spread over 135 acres that opened to the public last year. Visitors can also take in a tour, offered since last year, of the 27,000-square-foot home that for years was the residence of Mandrell and her family (she hated the term mansion); dine at the new farm-fresh restaurant on the premises; walk two miles of trails that wind through the property; or, beginning May 31, enjoy a stage show that chronicles the history of Tennessee music.

All of these improvements could make Fontanel a much bigger draw for residents and tourists alike. Continue reading →